Looking back at Camarillo

When someone mentions walnuts, do you think of Camarillo? How ’bout lima beans? No. Arabian horses? Still nothing? It’s possible, then, that you consider Camarillo as just a little town you drive through on your way to Los Angeles; a mere blip on the never-ending people mover that is the 101 Freeway.

It shouldn’t be. According to Jeffery Wayne Maulhardt, history teacher, fifth-generation Ventura County native and author of the newly released #Images of America: Camarillo#, Camarillo is a place with a history worth exploring. And explore he does — offering readers over 100 pages of vintage and current photos of the city that evolved out of three distinct ranchos: Ranchos Los Posas, Calleguas and Guadalasca.

The photos, which Maulhardt culled from his personal collection as well as the albums of local citizens, the Pleasant Valley Historical Society and the Camarillo Ranch Foundation, come complete with extensive captions that tell a rich and complex story.